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Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::OpenID - OpenID credential for Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication framework.
NB: The extensions were previously configured under the key extension_args. They are now configured under extensions. extension_args is no longer honored.
As previously noted, "EXTENSIONS TO OPENID", I have not tested the extensions. I would be grateful for any feedback or, better, tests.
The problems encountered by failed OpenID operations have always been fatals in the past. This is unexpected behavior for most users as it differs from other credentials. Authentication errors here are no longer fatal. Debug/error output is improved to offset the loss of information. If for some reason you would prefer the legacy/fatal behavior, set the configuration variable errors_are_fatal to a true value.
In MyApp.pm-
use Catalyst qw/ Authentication Session Session::Store::FastMmap Session::State::Cookie /;
Somewhere in myapp.conf-
<Plugin::Authentication> default_realm openid <realms> <openid> <credential> class OpenID ua_class LWP::UserAgent </credential> </openid> </realms> </Plugin::Authentication>
Or in your myapp.yml if you're using YAML instead-
Plugin::Authentication: default_realm: openid realms: openid: credential: class: OpenID ua_class: LWP::UserAgent
In a controller, perhaps Root::openid-
sub openid : Local { my($self, $c) = @_; if ( $c->authenticate() ) { $c->flash(message => "You signed in with OpenID!"); $c->res->redirect( $c->uri_for('/') ); } else { # Present OpenID form. } }
And a Template to match in openid.tt-
<form action="[% c.uri_for('/openid') %]" method="GET" name="openid"> <input type="text" name="openid_identifier" class="openid" /> <input type="submit" value="Sign in with OpenID" /> </form>
This is the third OpenID related authentication piece for Catalyst. The first — Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::OpenID by Benjamin Trott — was deprecated by the second — Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::OpenID by Tatsuhiko Miyagawa — and this is an attempt to deprecate both by conforming to the newish, at the time of this module's inception, realm-based authentication in Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication.
1. Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::OpenID 2. Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::OpenID 3. Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::OpenID
The benefit of this version is that you can use an arbitrary number of authentication systems in your Catalyst application and configure and call all of them in the same way.
Note that both earlier versions of OpenID authentication use the method authenticate_openid(). This module uses authenticate() and relies on you to specify the realm. You can specify the realm as the default in the configuration or inline with each authenticate() call; more below.
This module functions quite differently internally from the others. See Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Internals for more about this implementation.
Call to authenticate the user via OpenID. Returns false if authorization is unsuccessful. Sets the user into the session and returns the user object if authentication succeeds.
You can see in the call above that the authentication hash is empty. The implicit OpenID parameter is, as the 2.0 specification says it SHOULD be, openid_identifier. You can set it anything you like in your realm configuration, though, under the key openid_field. If you call authenticate() with the empty info hash and no configured openid_field then only openid_identifier is checked.
It implicitly does this (sort of, it checks the request method too)-
my $claimed_uri = $c->req->params->{openid_identifier}; $c->authenticate({openid_identifier => $claimed_uri});
You will never call this. Catalyst does it for you. The only important thing you might like to know about it is that it merges its realm configuration with its configuration proper. If this doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry.
Currently the only supported user class is Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::User::Hash.
See Net::OpenID::VerifiedIdentity for details.
Catalyst authentication is now configured entirely from your application's configuration. Do not, for example, put Credential::OpenID into your use Catalyst ... statement. Instead, tell your application that in one of your authentication realms you will use the credential.
use Catalyst ...
In your application the following will give you two different authentication realms. One called "members" which authenticates with clear text passwords and one called "openid" which uses... uh, OpenID.
__PACKAGE__->config ( name => "MyApp", "Plugin::Authentication" => { default_realm => "members", realms => { members => { credential => { class => "Password", password_field => "password", password_type => "clear" }, store => { class => "Minimal", users => { paco => { password => "l4s4v3n7ur45", }, } } }, openid => { credential => { class => "OpenID", store => { class => "OpenID", }, consumer_secret => "Don't bother setting", ua_class => "LWP::UserAgent", # whitelist is only relevant for LWPx::ParanoidAgent ua_args => { whitelisted_hosts => [qw/ 127.0.0.1 localhost /], }, extensions => [ 'http://openid.net/extensions/sreg/1.1', { required => 'email', optional => 'fullname,nickname,timezone', }, ], }, }, }, } );
This is the same configuration in the default Catalyst configuration format from Config::General.
name MyApp <Plugin::Authentication> default_realm members <realms> <members> <store> class Minimal <users> <paco> password l4s4v3n7ur45 </paco> </users> </store> <credential> password_field password password_type clear class Password </credential> </members> <openid> <credential> <store> class OpenID </store> class OpenID <ua_args> whitelisted_hosts 127.0.0.1 whitelisted_hosts localhost </ua_args> consumer_secret Don't bother setting ua_class LWP::UserAgent <extensions> http://openid.net/extensions/sreg/1.1 required email optional fullname,nickname,timezone </extensions> </credential> </openid> </realms> </Plugin::Authentication>
And now, the same configuration in YAML. NB: YAML is whitespace sensitive.
name: MyApp Plugin::Authentication: default_realm: members realms: members: credential: class: Password password_field: password password_type: clear store: class: Minimal users: paco: password: l4s4v3n7ur45 openid: credential: class: OpenID store: class: OpenID consumer_secret: Don't bother setting ua_class: LWP::UserAgent ua_args: # whitelist is only relevant for LWPx::ParanoidAgent whitelisted_hosts: - 127.0.0.1 - localhost extensions: - http://openid.net/extensions/sreg/1.1 - required: email optional: fullname,nickname,timezone
NB: There is no OpenID store yet.
You can set trust_root now too. This is experimental and I have no idea if it's right or could be better. Right now it must be a URI. It was submitted as a path but this seems to limit it to the Catalyst app and while easier to dynamically generate no matter where the app starts, it seems like the wrong way to go. Let me know if that's mistaken.
The Simple Registration--http://openid.net/extensions/sreg/1.1--(SREG) extension to OpenID is supported in the Net::OpenID family now. Experimental support for it is included here as of v0.12. SREG is the only supported extension in OpenID 1.1. It's experimental in the sense it's a new interface and barely tested. Support for OpenID extensions is here to stay.
Google's OpenID is also now supported. Uh, I think.
Here is a snippet from Thorben Jändling combining Sreg and Google's extenstions–
'Plugin::Authentication' => { openid => { credential => { class => 'OpenID', ua_class => 'LWP::UserAgent', extensions => { 'http://openid.net/extensions/sreg/1.1' => { required => 'nickname,email,fullname', optional => 'timezone,language,dob,country,gender' }, 'http://openid.net/srv/ax/1.0' => { mode => 'fetch_request', 'type.nickname' => 'http://axschema.org/namePerson/friendly', 'type.email' => 'http://axschema.org/contact/email', 'type.fullname' => 'http://axschema.org/namePerson', 'type.firstname' => 'http://axschema.org/namePerson/first', 'type.lastname' => 'http://axschema.org/namePerson/last', 'type.dob' => 'http://axschema.org/birthDate', 'type.gender' => 'http://axschema.org/person/gender', 'type.country' => 'http://axschema.org/contact/country/home', 'type.language' => 'http://axschema.org/pref/language', 'type.timezone' => 'http://axschema.org/pref/timezone', required => 'nickname,fullname,email,firstname,lastname', if_available => 'dob,gender,country,language,timezone', }, }, }, }, default_realm => 'openid', };
LWPx::ParanoidAgent is the default agent — ua_class — if it's available, LWP::UserAgent if not. You don't have to set it. I recommend that you do not override it. You can with any well behaved LWP::UserAgent. You probably should not. LWPx::ParanoidAgent buys you many defenses and extra security checks. When you allow your application users freedom to initiate external requests, you open an avenue for DoS (denial of service) attacks. LWPx::ParanoidAgent defends against this. LWP::UserAgent and any regular subclass of it will not.
The underlying Net::OpenID::Consumer object is seeded with a secret. If it's important to you to set your own, you can. The default uses this package name + its version + the sorted configuration keys of your Catalyst application (chopped at 255 characters if it's longer). This should generally be superior to any fixed string.
Option to suppress fatals.
Support more of the new methods in the Net::OpenID kit.
There are some interesting implications with this sort of setup. Does a user aggregate realms or can a user be signed in under more than one realm? The documents could contain a recipe of the self-answering OpenID end-point that is in the tests.
Debug statements need to be both expanded and limited via realm configuration.
Better diagnostics in errors. Debug info at all consumer calls.
Roles from provider domains? Mapped? Direct? A generic "openid" auto_role?
To Benjamin Trott (Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::OpenID), Tatsuhiko Miyagawa (Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::OpenID), Brad Fitzpatrick for the great OpenID stuff, Martin Atkins for picking up the code to handle OpenID 2.0, and Jay Kuri and everyone else who has made Catalyst such a wonderful framework.
Menno Blom provided a bug fix and the hook to use OpenID extensions.
Copyright (c) 2008-2009, Ashley Pond V <email@example.com>. Some of Tatsuhiko Miyagawa's work is reused here.
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See perlartistic.
Because this software is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty for the software, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and other parties provide the software "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software is with you. Should the software prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction.
In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify or redistribute the software as permitted by the above license, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the software (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the software to operate with any other software), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Net::OpenID::Server, Net::OpenID::VerifiedIdentity, Net::OpenID::Consumer, http://openid.net/, http://openid.net/developers/specs/, and http://openid.net/extensions/sreg/1.1.
Catalyst, Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication, Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization, and Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authentication.
Catalyst::Plugin::ConfigLoader, Config::General, and YAML.
Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial, Template, LWPx::ParanoidAgent.
To install Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::OpenID, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::OpenID
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::OpenID
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.


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13-year-old girl charged for making threat using finger pointed like a gun
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - A 13-year-old girl has been charged with a felony after using her finger to make a threat at a middle school.
Police arrested the student on September 18th after investigators say she made the threat at Westridge Middle School with her finger.
Shawnee Mission School District spokesperson David Smith said there was no actual weapon found - it was a finger pointed like a gun.
Overland Park Police say the girl's actions were confirmed by two other students. A school resource officer with the department made the arrest.
"If someone makes a direct threat to another person to do harm to another person, that is considered criminal threat and that would be a felony," Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe told WDAF.
Although Howe couldn't speak to specifics in this case, he told WDAF what his office takes into account in these kinds of situations.
"Trust that there are a lot of people who do this all the time, making informed decisions based on all the facts," Howe said.
"In most instances, an individual with that kind of charge would be eligible for some kind of diversion plan," Howe said. "It would be extremely difficult, almost impossible, under the current juvenile justice system to actually send them to the correctional facility for that type of behavior because it is such a low-level offense, it would not meet the criteria needed."
Howe couldn't speak on the 13-year-old's history. He did say criminal history and public safety issues are considered when making a decision to file charges.
When asked if charging the teen with a felony seemed extreme, Howe referenced last year's school shooting in Florida, which left 17 dead.
"I think law enforcement and schools understand that we need to address bad behavior," Howe said. "Not be heavy-handed but at the same time, address that bad behavior and prevent it from getting worse."
The Overland Park Police chief told WDAF too often there are reports of violence in schools and inevitably questions about what should or should have been done to prevent the tragedy.
In Kansas, it's illegal for a juvenile to possess a firearm. Howe said, even in a school setting.
"It seems a little bit of an anomaly that you would think that having the actual gun that would be more serious charge, but in fact it's the actual threat," Howe said. "And it's something that maybe we need to look at with the legislature and reconcile that."
Howe said the teen has a closed hearing at the Juvenile District Court within the next couple weeks.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ms. Maras Malley has updated with some quite frankly stunning new visuals for some of the biggest clients in entertainment. We are continually taken aback by her inspirational talent. We are all huge fans of her work at our studio. She takes her projects to the next level consistently and raises the bar all the way up to 'art'. Not an easy thing to do.
written by Christopher | tags: Art Direction, Illustration, Maras Malley, motion design


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Wall Street and Islamophobia
By Geoffrey Cook, TMO
Oakland–October 31st–I lived in this curious city across from San Francisco for most of my thirty-one years here in the East Bay. Unlike that City across the Bay, which is more of a dreamland where one goes when one is young, but Oakland is a gutsy –mainly Black – working class city. It is, also, the third largest port on the West Coast. Most of the Muslims here, too, are native born Afro-American converts with a considerable number of Eritrean refugees and a noticeable contingent Yemeni with Palestinian and other miscellaneous groupings.
What created Oakland in the Nineteenth Century was the fact that the trans-Continental railway ended here and its passengers would get off, and be put on ferries to the City on the Golden Gate.
Curiously, in the recent "Occupy Wall Street†Movement, more than New York or even the Western financial hub across San Francisco Bay, the seemingly provincial and small (400,000) peripheral urban space of Oakland has become a center of the battle against the financial collapse of "free†enterprise that the George W. Bush Administration accelerated through his anti-Islamic Colonial Wars. As evil as that was, the administration of those Wars, were managed so incompetently that they failed to finance their martial adventures – contrary to the history of Foreign adventurism which usually leads to a stimulation of a national economy temporarily – in that the Bush Regime gave financially unsound tax-breaks to the upper 1% of the population – the economy shrank instead — as the national debt plummeted. (Now, let it be noted, that I do not advocate preventative War in any way!)
Many in the Muslim community here have suffered even more than the general citizenry. Homes have been foreclosed, jobs have been lost and not regained, lifetime savings have slithered away, and, yes, despite residency in this land of plenty, there is even hunger.
Notwithstanding, President Barrack Hussein Obama's attempted to prod a budget through Congress earlier this year that would begin to alleviate the suffering of the grand majority of Americans, which was obfuscated by the largely anti-Muslim "Tea Party.†The latter have hindered relief to suffering American citizens / residents including those who attend the Mosques.
Under Section Four of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was largely instituted as one of the Reconstruction Amendments, to prevent any future attempts to reverse the Thirteenth Amendment passed during the U.S. Civil War (1860s) to irradiate the deplorable institution of slavery, also, raises the question of what monetary powers Section Four of the Fourteenth Amendment gives to the President. "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…shall not be questioned…†Therefore, it is argued that Section 4 gives the President unilateral authority to raise or ignore the national debt ceiling (like in a national such as World War II, the Great Depression or the current financial crisis).
President Obama made a grave error in not invoking Section 4, and regulating by decree last February, and, hopefully, when the budget comes up again, and (economic) Keynesian solutions are called for, the Administration will block the reactionaries of the Lower house, for, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, an upcoming worldwide economic collapse is brewing due to the Euro-zone National Debt Crisis and the "Tea Party†fiscal interference in the States. Therefore, to avoid this, drastic measures are indicated.
To counter this, a populist movement has arisen in America in protest against the corruption of the American system deregulated over the past several decades by interspersed right-wing governments. In a letter, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the only Muslim in Congress sarcastically writes, "…if you exercise your right to free speech against the excessive power and greed of Wall Street…they say you're 'dangerous' and engaging in 'class warfare.'â€
The disproportionate importance of the Oakland demonstrations to the national movement is the reaction by incompetent elite who essentially stole an election by a conspiratorial manipulation of rank-choice voting. (This minor city's last two mayors had remarkable resumes – one a former Governor and the last a leading former Congressman. It was expected that the last President Pro Temp of the California [State] Senate in Sacramento who represented Alameda County of which Oakland is the seat, who won a plurality of the first round vote, would be the next Mayor, but lost because three of the other candidates campaigned to have their supporters list two of the others as their second and third choices; thus, thwarting democracy with incompetency. The result of which is that the current Mayor represents only one small ethnic element of the city; therefore, Muslims, who largely belong to the ethnic plurality, are denied political recognition here.)
Be that as it may, this Op-Ed is to state that the "Occupy Wall Street†Movement is related to Islamophobia because the same crisis that created hatred against Muslims in the States gave reign to the greed in America's financial structure. In a way, maybe Islam's non-usury system has a lot to teach the West which, by the way, renounced a similar system in the Renaissance.
Some commentators have equated the "Occupy Wall Street†Movement to America's version of the Arab "Spring.†It is true that Islam and democracy can find a compatible form, but – like the case with Soviet Socialism – it may not be able to co-exist with American Capitalism as "written.†I believe that the Koran and Hadith have much to teach the West in ways to reform its financial institutions and dealings.


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This article is more than 1 year old
US 'grooming robot' to reduce navy bottom-fouling
'Ensuring dominance and reducing dirty emissions'
In a bid to tackle the degrading effects of widespread "bottom fouling" in the US fleet, the US Navy has announced that it is engaged in efforts to develop an "autonomous grooming robot".
'Scrub your bottom, sir?'
The robot is known as the Bio-inspired Underwater Grooming (BUG) Tool. According to the Office of Naval Research, it's all about "ensuring warfighting dominance for today's Sailors and Marines [and reducing] emission of greenhouse gas in the form of carbon dioxide".
"It will be not one approach or one solution that solves the marine biofouling issue," says Steve McElvany of the ONR. "It is going to be a combination of things."
Recent trials of the device involving actual US navy sailors yielded "very exciting results", according to Florida Institute of Technology prof Geoff Swain, one of its developers.
Rather than a bathtime utensil for dealing with possible maritime combat trouser mishaps, the BUG is in fact a small crawler-bot that creeps about on the submerged portions of a ship's hull, scrubbing off "hard foulers" such as "barnacles, oysters, algae and other marine life".
A foul bottom can reduce a warship's speed by up to ten per cent, according to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD). Fuel consumption over a given journey can be increased by as much as 40 per cent.
Warships are particularly badly affected by biofouling as they spend large amounts of time tied up in harbour, letting the various forms of bottom-grasping marine life get firmly established. But even merchant ships, which spend more time underway, could benefit from a cleansing bottom-crawl now and then.
"Basically any boat over 45 feet, which is in the water all the time, can benefit from this kind of technology," says Don Darling, President of SeaRobotics and another of the BUG dev team.
There's more on the BUG from the ONR here (pdf). ®


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The City of Mountlake Terrace is pleased that you have chosen, or are considering, our city for your business. Strengthening the economic base, enhancing quality of life, and ensuring that your experience is positive and efficient is our goal.
Conveniently Located with Many Amenities
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Here you will also find a movie theater, shops, restaurants, clinics, library and a variety of housing. The city has excellent schools, served by the Edmonds School District, and approximately 260 acres of recreational attractions including a fishing pier and boat launch at Lake Ballinger, parks, play fields, a golf course, year-round swimming, a sports pavilion and public open spaces.
Ample Transit Connections
The five-story Mountlake Terrace Transit Center accommodates nearly 900 vehicles at the 236th Street SW exit from I-5. The parking garage connects via a pedestrian bridge to the Freeway Station in the median of I-5 for catching Seattle-Everett express busses operated by Sound Transit.
We are committed to promoting healthy economic development and providing jobs. There are about 254 acres of commercial and light industrial areas that provide opportunities for quality infill development and redevelopment. The city is diversifying and rebuilding its Town Center economy through the Town Center Subarea Plan process. The city adopted a Sustainability Strategy, providing goals to promote environmental stewardship while ensuring community livability and economic prosperity.
Our Development Services staff is available to assist you with all your business needs. Whether it's land use planning, permitting, or simply requiring basic information, we take pride in providing excellent customer service and invite you to contact us for all your business needs.
Community & Economic Development
Physical Address
23204 58th Avenue W
Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
2019 Statistics
Population: 21,590
Households: 8,990
Jobs: 7,795
Median Income: $66,572
Median Age: 37
Quick Links
Economic Development
Main Street Revitalization Project
Town Center Plan
Economic Alliance Snohomish County


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Oliver Stone's "The Untold History of the United States" is one of those untold histories that are told over and over again by the left. But no matter how often the left retells the same stories, it makes sure to add an "untold" in there, not because their revisionism of history was previously untold, but because the idea that a secret history is being uncovered carries with it a whiff of daring and rebellion that appeals to the students of a college campus looking for fresh answers and reversals of everything that they thought was true while growing up.
There are truly untold histories. The history of Communist terror in the Soviet Union and around the world is one of them. As is the history of John F. Kennedy's assassination, not by some combination of the Mafia, CIA, Cuban exiles and space aliens, but by a fanatical leftist who had defected to the Soviet Union. And finally there is the untold history of American Communists who fought to overthrow the United States and replace it with a totalitarian state through a campaign of terror, treason and lies. A campaign that they waged with as much fanaticism as Lee Harvey Oswald waged his.
Robert Scheer, a co-founder of the domestic terrorist group, Red Family, is a one-man mausoleum of the shrill viciousness of the left and its radical program for America. Like Bill Ayers, Scheer has gone from anti-American terrorist to anti-American academic, teaching a course on media and society at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication.
Scheer had acted as a consultant on Oliver Stone's Nixon and has moderated discussions between Stone and Peter Kuznick, Stone's collaborator on "The Untold History of the United States." Scheer, like Stone and Kuznick, believes that Harry Truman was a war criminal, that the United States was the villain of the Cold War and that it is an empire in need of overthrowing. But propaganda isn't much use unless it influences the next generation and so Scheer is bringing, "The Untold History of the United States" to the 152 USC undergraduates of his class.
The goal of the "The Untold History of the United States," both book and propaganda series, is to become the new "A People's History of the United States." A multimedia project indoctrinating a new generation with the left's funhouse mirror conspiracy theories of American history. There is a reason why old terrorists become academics. On the college campus there is no historical revisionism of the left so discredited that it cannot find credulous audiences among the young. And there is no one better than Oliver Stone for the job.
Stone's specialty is turning left-wing propaganda into pop entertainment. From "Platoon" to "Born on the Fourth of July" to "JFK" to "Nixon" to "W," Oliver Stone has played Andy Warhol to the red soup companies of men like Robert Scheer. And pop entertainment, whether it's the Obama campaign or Oliver Stone's Showtime series, is a vital weapon in winning the hearts and minds of a generation that is overeducated but lacks the ability to burst its own intellectual bubble.
Scheer's own efforts at manufacturing pop propaganda faltered with "The Great American Stickup," put out by Nation Books, which vanished quickly into the remainders bin without exercising any serious influence on the national dialogue. While leftists like Scheer dredge up the old Marxist cant about the people, they lack any ability to reach them. They need Stone, but at the same time Stone's proximity discredits them.
Scheer, Stone and Kuznick share an obsession with a slice of history that began with the American alliance with the Soviet Union during World War II, hit a peak during Vietnam and slowly drained away during the Reagan era. Their ability to relate to events after the Cold War in any terms other than the old ideas of an American Empire run by industrialists maintaining a war industry for their own profit is completely lacking. The War on Terror appears to them only as an askew version of Vietnam. And Vietnam to them was only a consequence of the failure to properly appease Stalin and the Soviet Union.
Stalin and the atrocities of the Soviet Union are the sticking points of the American Reds still refighting the Cold War. They have been unable to come to terms with Stalin's atrocities and the implications of those atrocities for the moral legitimacy of the Soviet Union and for its supporters. Rather than revise their understanding of history, they are still busy trying to revise history instead.
The Soviet Union was not a moral or ethical entity in the treatment of its workers, its people or its neighbors. Instead it was a monstrous political entity run by mass murderers. The only way for the Scheers and Stones to outrun this truth is by smearing the United States with even more blood and dirt. The more we learn about Soviet atrocities, the more "untold histories" of the United States emerge rehashing dated Communist propaganda into a narrative that exists only to distract Americans from the sins of some of the worst mass murderers of the 20th Century and their supporters on the left.
There are few academics sympathetic to Nazi Germany to be found on American campuses today, but there are quite a few who are sympathetic to the Soviet Union. While much of the left would prefer not to talk about Communism, there is an influential group that still thinks they can talk the victims out of the graves and transform the past by lying hard enough about it.
"The Untold History of the United States" is their concept. It will never truly become a pop success, unlike JFK, because the conspiracy theories that it is concerned with are only relevant to that old red left. Trying to justify the Soviet Union after its collapse is a dead end, but that doesn't mean that they aren't capable of still doing some damage.
Historical revisionism that whitewashes the crimes of the left will not change how most Americans, even how most college students, see the Soviet Union, but it suppresses the true untold history of the atrocities committed in the name of the revolution and the complicity of the left in those atrocities.
History is how we learn from the past and those who most need to learn from the past are those who are likeliest to repeat it. The modern college campus, like its predecessors, boils with frustrated idealism, agitation and utopianism. It is a place where dreams or nightmares can be born. And Scheer, like Stone, is determined that the next generation never learn what it needs to know to avoid repeating their own mistakes.
Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.


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Fin DAC is a self-taught, non-conformist urban artist who has defined and perfected an atypical spray paint style he has dubbed Urban Aesthetics.
Through his work the artist explores themes related to female emancipation and empowerment, readjusting the male gaze and disrupting colonialist attitudes particularly surrounding the Eastern experience.
He is known for his depictions of Eurasian women and is inspired by traditional and ceremonial dressing, in which these subjects engage. His interest; however, is not superficial or thoughtless. In his illustration of these women, Fin DAC reframes racial and sexual stereotypes that surround them, crafting a narrative that celebrates their sensuality with cultural sensitivity, rather than appropriation.
When he works in an outdoor context, Fin DAC's women are often large and commanding, claiming ownership over their urban environment, but also equally feminine, with classically delicate features. Through this duality, Fin DAC asserts that women are both powerful and vulnerable, aesthetic and intellectual, physically capable and with deep emotional reserves.
Although his murals are present in countries and continents all over the globe, Fin DAC remains very much an outsider of the street art scene preferring instead to plough his own, individual path with personal projects.
Find out more at www.findac.tumblr.com
We think it's more important than ever to curate and elevate, bringing you limited editions from some of the most fabulous artists and creatives on earth... Read More
Out now, Simone Legno's new tokidoki limited edition Cup & Saucer 'City View' one of the complex silk screen printed sets we've ever made. Read More
A new collection of hand-signed limited edition art prints in very small edition sizes. Watch this space...
Stay safe ... Look Sharp ... Coming soon


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When artist Rafael Mantesso got divorced, all he had left was his bull terrier Jimmy Choo and an empty, stark white house. So he decided to make the most of the blank canvas and took some fanciful photos of his precious pup!
There are so many more – see them all here!


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APS Bridge Program receives NSF Support
As reported in the October APS News, the NSF recently awarded APS $3 million in funding over the next five years to launch the APS Bridge Program, a national program designed to increase the number of underrepresented minority students who receive doctoral degrees in physics. The program requests proposals for new bridge sites to develop proposals for such projects. Initial proposals are due November 16th.
APS Bridge Program
Deadline Approaching for the APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics
November 15 is the last day to apply for the APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics.
CUWiP Locations and Information
New Effective Practices in Teacher Education: Call for Proposals
The Physics Teacher Education Coalition, the APS, and the American Association of Physics Teachers announce a call for manuscript proposals for a new peer-reviewed book entitled Effective Practices in Preservice Physics Teacher Education: Recruitment, Retention, and Preparation. This book seeks to provide a practical guide to innovative, state-of-the-art programs, and will include papers and case studies covering a wide variety of topics in preservice teacher education. Manuscript proposals are due February 1, 2013.
Effective Practices Book
Minority Scholarship Application Process Begins
The APS is once again pleased to announce its Scholarships for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors. African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students who are college freshmen or sophomore physics majors, and who are US citizens or permanent residents are invited to apply. The online application deadline is February 4, 2013. Awards are $2000 and $3000 per academic year.
Minority Scholarship Information
2012 Professional Skills Development Workshops for Women
The APS, with support from NSF, will host in 2013 two Professional Skills Development Workshops for female physicists. Postdoctoral associates and early-career faculty and scientists are invited to apply for the March 17, 2013 workshop in Baltimore, MD. Postdoctoral associates and senior-level faculty and scientists are invited to apply for the April 12, 2013 workshop in Denver, CO. Senior graduate students are also welcome to apply.
Applicants affiliated with a US institution/facility are eligible for travel and lodging funding consideration. Those needing funding assistance are encouraged to apply early.
Professional Skills Deadlines and Application Information
Registration Open for 2013 PhysTEC Conference
The 2013 PhysTEC conference will be held March 16-17, 2013 in Baltimore, MD, immediately preceding the APS March Meeting.
2013 PhysTEC Conference
Childcare Grants for APS Spring Meeting Attendees
Grants of up to $400 are available for APS March and April Meeting attendees who are bringing small children or who incur extra expenses in leaving them at home (e.g., extra daycare or babysitting services).
APS Spring Meeting Childcare Grants
Funding for Undergraduates to Attend APS Meetings
A limited number of $200 and $1000 travel supplements are available for undergraduate students presenting at the 2013 APS March and April meetings. Students must submit their abstracts by the meeting deadlines, which are November 9, 2012 for the March Meeting, and January 11, 2013 for the April Meeting. Students will also be invited to take part in Future of Physics Days (FPD), which include special events that are planned over the course of the meetings to enable undergraduates to meet their peers, share their research results with other physicists, and begin building a network among fellow physicists.
Future of Physics Days (FPD) Meeting and Grant Information
APS encourages the redistribution of the materials included in this newspaper provided that attribution to the source is noted and the materials are not truncated or changed.
Editor: Alan Chodos


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- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:26 06:39 12:34 15:52 18:24 19:37
Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants clashed fiercely with a larger rebel group they had long coexisted with, leaving at least 21 combatants dead in the southern Philippines, police said Monday.
A commander with the Moro National Liberation Front, which has an autonomy deal with the government, said his group battled Abu Sayyaf gunmen Sunday after the Abu Sayyaf refused to free several foreign hostages it has held in jungle lairs for months, including a Jordanian TV journalist and two European men. The militants did release two Filipino hostages who were found by police Saturday.
Eight Moro rebels and at least 13 Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in the clashes in in the jungle-clad mountains of Sulu province's Patikul town, where hundreds of armed fighters of the Moro Nati onal Liberation Front have encamped in the last three weeks to pressure the extremists to free their kidnap victims and end other acts of banditry.
There has been no word on what happened to the Abu Sayyaf's captives amid the fighting, Sulu provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra said.
The fighting subsided Monday after Abu Sayyaf gunmen split into smaller groups, with a large group seen fleeing from Patikul to an adjacent town. But the clashes could erupt again, Freyra said.
It was the first major bloody confrontation between the two insurgent groups, which have coexisted for years and at times were suspected of collaborating on kidnappings and backing each other in clashes against government troops in Sulu.
Moro National Liberation Front commander Khabir Malik said his group had taken the initiative to seek the freedom of the hostages to help the government clean up the image of Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf has carried ou t deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, primarily in the early 2000s.
Over the weekend, Abu Sayyaf militants freed two Filipinos who worked for veteran Jordanian journalist Baker Abdulla Atyani. But the militants kept Atyani himself and other foreign hostages, including two European bird watchers, a Japanese treasure hunter and a Malaysian man. At least one Filipino resident of Sulu remains with the Abu Sayyaf, police said.
Cameraman Ramel Vela and audio technician Roland Letriro, who had spent eight months in captivity, told the police that they last saw Atyani five days after they were taken into Abu Sayyaf custody, when the militants separated him from them. Atyani traveled with the two in June to Sulu, a province 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila, to do a documentary on the country's volatile south.
Atyani has gained prominence for having interviewed Osama bin Laden and his aides in Afghanistan about three months before the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.
The Abu Sayyaf is an extremist offshoot of a rebellion that has been raging in the predominantly Catholic nation's south for decades. US-backed military offensives have crippled it in recent years, but it remains a national security threat. Washington has listed the group, which has about 380 armed fighters, as a terrorist organization.
Moro National Liberation Front rebels signed a peace deal with the government in 1996 that did not require them to disarm. They have settled back to their Sulu communities but have clashed with government troops periodically while negotiating for more concessions.
The group's stature has been overshadowed in recent years by the larger Liberation Front, which is currently engaged in Malaysian-brokered talks with the government to expand and seek more power and resources for an existing autonomous region in the south.
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Unique design elements include the asymmetrical styling, three-zone interior (comfort, utility and technology), glass roof-mounted solar panels and drive-by-wire steering, throttle and braking. The exterior is highlighted by a low front end and large windshield, flared wheel arches and 20inch wheels shod with Michelin rubber. One interesting feature is the rubber inserts on the outer edge of the alloys that protects the wheel against curb damage. The Bevel remains strictly a styling exercise as there's no powertrain beneath the unsightly brown sheetmetal. Conceptually, the Bevel would feature a small, efficient 2.5L V6 that would offer both performance and fuel economy. This is one concept that seems to look worse the more you see it.
The fact that the car has a 360-degree pet leash swivel connection point and a large, removable "doggie hutch" pet carrier leaves us wondering what the design team were trying to achieve. Didn't anyone realize that the entire thing looks like a steaming pile of something a doggie might leave behind?
Click here for our full gallery and the official press release.
Nissan Bevel Concept Carves Out a Space of Its Own
With Function-Inspired Design, Innovative Utility
The Nissan Bevel is a dynamic, multi-purpose vehicle – one designed to enhance every activity, every opportunity. But unlike currently available sport utility vehicles or minivans, which emphasize passenger needs and comfort, the advanced Bevel Concept's focus is placed strictly on the primary user – male empty-nesters actively engaged in hobbies, recreation and community service.
Conceived at Nissan Design America, Inc. (NDA) in La Jolla, California, in collaboration with Nissan advanced product planning groups in the United States, the Bevel Concept is an exploration of the future of the sport utility vehicle, going far beyond the current stereotypes.
"We see an opportunity to expand the range and values of the utility vehicle world," said Bruce Campbell, vice president design, NDA. "In the future, we envision "genres" where each product will be more dedicated and more focused, with the vehicles being much closer to the multi-dimensional aspects of the target buyers."
Bevel offers unique, function-inspired asymmetrical styling, a high-utility three-zone interior and technology ranging from glass roof-mounted solar panels to drive-by-wire steering, throttle and braking.
"Bevel is designed as a useful and rewarding vehicle for the 'Everyday Hero' – the guy who's always ready to help out a neighbor, a friend or around his community," said Campbell.
"These are men between 45 and 60 years of age with multiple personal interests. They don't need the heavy-duty utility of a pickup or room for a lot of passengers. In fact, they probably drive their vehicles alone more than 90 percent of the time. What they need is an extension of their toolboxes, workshops and garages – so they can easily take their work or hobbies on the road in comfort, style and with unlimited utility. The Bevel Concept is just that vehicle," he continued.
An Innovative, Asymmetrical Exterior
Bevel's compact exterior dimensions belie the immense utility inside. It rides on a 115.4-inch wheelbase, longer than the current Nissan Murano (111.2 inches) but shorter than the Nissan Quest (124.0 inches). Its short front and rear overhangs give it a manageable overall length of 173.2 inches, while width measures a full 75.0 inches. Overall height of 63.8 inches is nearly three inches shorter than Murano (66.5 inches), yet with Bevel's low load floor the total interior cargo height is the same as Murano.
Bevel's exterior is highlighted by a low front end and large windshield, large flared wheelwells with 20-inch wheels and 245/55R20 Michelin tires. The wheels feature rubber inserts on the outer spoke edges, visually extending the look of the tires while helping protect the wheels against curb damage.
The advantages of Bevel's asymmetrical styling are evident in the door layout. The driver's side door is extremely long and pivots on a special four-bar/two-position hinge designed for ease of entry and exit. A large driver's side window aids visibility. The driver's side rear body panel is solid, except for a narrow, horizontal upper window.
On the passenger side of Bevel's body are two doors, with the rear door hinged at the rear to provide an exceptionally wide door opening of nearly five-and-a-half feet (67.3 inches) from A-pillar to C-pillar – ideal for loading cargo, supplies or hobby equipment, such as a long-wingspan remote controlled airplane.
Bevel's tall one-piece rear hatch features a special horizontal hinge arrangement, with a height when raised of 6'2" from the ground. With the hatch open, a special tailgate-like work platform (about half of the width of the hatchback) folds down and snaps into place, creating a sturdy workbench-like area. This platform is strong enough to sit or stand on and has a quick-release design for easy removal and storage when not needed.
Located in the lower side edges of the rear cargo area, accessible with the hatch in the open position, is a pair of power outlets – a traditional 12V outlet and an 110V power tool recharging outlet, which is powered by Bevel's integrated solar cells mounted beneath the large glass roof panels.
"In creating Bevel, we studied how Everyday Heroes really use their vehicles – the loads, the size of their cargo, how they need protection from the rain when working outside," said Campbell. "Having a tailgate that a 6-foot-plus tall person can stand beneath while working under it adds tremendously to the vehicle's year-round utility."
Along with the oversize, asymmetrical glass roof, Bevel also features a unique roof cargo system. Six hexagon-shaped "pucks" with pop-up hooks are designed to carry loads up to 250 pounds – versus traditional roof rack systems' recommended load capacities of 60 pounds.
Other Bevel exterior features include hidden LCD headlights and projector fog lamps, LCD taillights integrated into the tailgate surround and hidden under the paint, breakaway fiber-optic side cameras in place of traditional sideview mirrors, a recessed rear license plate holder, hidden exhaust outlets and touch-sensitive door release keypads mounted in the door window glass.
"Our goal in designing the Bevel exterior was to maximize functionality and minimize the use of visual distractions such as door handles, big exhaust pipes or splashy lighting," said Campbell. "At the same time, we wanted the little details to reflect Bevel's utility theme, which is why there is a recurring use of hexagons in the vehicle's design – reminiscent of a socket or a tool – in the wheels, grille and even the disc brake venting."
Three Specific Interior Zones
Bevel's interior combines comfort, utility and technology – organized into three use-specific "zones." The first zone is the comfort zone (driver's area), with a comfortable, rich leather-appointed fixed seat. A section of the driver's side floor is connected to and moves out with the driver's door.
Also aiding driver ingress and egress is Bevel's "ribbon" instrument panel, which moves four inches forward and out of the way when the driver's door is opened – and back into position in front of the driver when the door is closed.
"Use of the moving or floating instrument panel ribbon was made possible by Bevel's drive-by-wire throttle, braking and steering," said Campbell. "This also allowed us to move the firewall forward by nearly a foot, creating additional room in front for both the driver and an occasional front seat passenger."
An integrated center console houses a control knob for the Nissan Xtronic CVT™ (Continuously Variable Transmission).
The second zone is the "command central" information/technology zone, designed to connect the driver with the Bevel and the outside world. The information-centric, fully digital instrument panel features a series of screens. Side LCD monitors, located on the outer edges of the instrument panel, display images from the sideview mirror cameras. The main center display offers adjustable image sizes and typefaces and can be switched between five information menus – Vehicle Information, HVAC, Navigation, Entertainment and Home – through use of the ribbon-mounted controller.
The "Entertainment" control center allows the driver to access phone settings, weather and traffic reports, Internet and personal e-mail accounts, and music – including satellite radio, MP3 files, CDs and the integrated speakers. From the "Home" control center, the driver can access a home network and monitor locks and security system, heat and air conditioning, appliance, room lighting and garage door status.
"The concept behind Bevel's information center is again adding a dimension of real world utility," said Campbell. "For example, if you are on your way home from a day of fly fishing, wouldn't it be great to be able to turn on or adjust the lights and heat in your house just before you get there?"
Bevel also includes a wireless tablet display computer, allowing connection with the information center when away from the instrument panel.
The third Bevel zone is the utility/pet zone. Bevel's flexible seating includes lightweight, aluminum-frame fold-flat front passenger and rear bench seat. Because they are likely to be kept in the folded position most of the time, the seat surfaces themselves are very simple yet durable, and the backsides of the seats are covered with the same material as the rear cargo area floor, creating one large, seamless front-to-rear utility surface. The flooring itself is constructed from laminated recycled walnut, creating an extremely hard, workbench-like surface.
"Our idea is to surround the driver with an appropriate level of comfort and luxury, but the rest of the Bevel is designed to get dirty, marred or marked. That's opposite of what is offered with most current utility vehicles," said Campbell. "You won't find a lot of cupholders or reading lamps in the rear of Bevel because you're much more likely to be carrying power saws than passengers."
Bevel does provide accommodations for one special class of passenger – pets. The front passenger area includes a 360-degree pet leash swivel connection point and a large, removable "doggie hutch" pet carrier is designed to fit securely in the rear cargo area.
The utility zone also includes a series of compartments and tie-down hooks, offering a high level of cargo-carrying flexibility.
"Bevel's interior can be used in so many ways, even as an additional storage for equipment between activities or uses, which is why we've limited glass areas to keep prying eyes out. Bevel really can be used like a second garage or workshop," said Campbell.
Conceptually, Bevel would feature a small, efficient 2.5-liter V6 with HEV, combining driving pleasure with environmentally friendly design.
"We believe that the Bevel target buyer is interested in both performance and fuel economy, so Bevel's powertrain would be selected with the goal of providing segment-leading MPG and the power of a larger V6," said Campbell.
A Study In Specialization
The Nissan Bevel Concept makes its world debut at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit – along side another all-new Nissan SUV design, the 2008 Nissan Rogue. The Rogue, Nissan's latest entry into the crossover SUV segment, shares Bevel's unique blending of a driver-focused cockpit with innovative utility.
"In many ways, Bevel and Rogue are designed for the same active, involved people, just at different stages in their lives," said Campbell. "While the Rogue buyer is just starting out with increased family and career responsibilities, Bevel's owner has more free time to devote to personal interests and activities. So often, as an industry, we ignore older buyers' needs – instead of embracing the fresh thinking that specialization can bring. We believe car enthusiasts of all ages are going to love Bevel."


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A Q&A with Mark Frydenberg
The tools we use every day are quietly producing enormous amounts of data. And very common software is allowing easier access and analysis of that data. Among the tools we now need to consider, in terms of leveraging big data, is social software. Social media can be found all around campus, often incorporated in instruction--in fact in many cases it's an essential classroom tool. And now it's also a tool in the big data arsenal. And we know that collaboration tools and better communications in general are opening up wider access to shared academic resources--and now relevant data--and impacting the scope and nature of conversations in the disciplines
Here, Bentley University's Senior Lecturer in Computer Information Systems explores how big data is increasingly flourishing all around us, along with new tools to manage and analyze it. He considers what that means for instruction, for the academic disciplines, and for IT in higher education.
Mary Grush: What's the emerging role for data--for strategies with the potential to leverage 'big data' from this new data-rich environment and turn it toward building a better academic experience?
Mark Frydenberg: When Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty first described the Web 2.0 phenomenon back in 2005, one of the characteristics they cited for business models for the next generation of software was "Data as the next Intel Inside." As companies and their applications moved to the Web, data gave them power. Today, data is at the center of a company's value: Tweets, searches, and Likes give Twitter, Google, and Facebook information that determines the advertising you see when you use their services and provides revenue from advertisers that keeps these sites available at no cost to users.
The Library of Congress is archiving every public tweet sent out on Twitter since it started in 2006. That database will be huge--170 billion tweets and counting. Such information is of value to students of history, sociology, culture, and technology, investigating different slices of the human experience. Computer scientists see an interesting challenge in how, in nearly real time, they can store, search, and retrieve information from such a vast collection of unstructured data that keeps on growing.
O'Reilly predicted, "The rise of proprietary databases [would] result in a Free Data movement" within a decade, and today data from governments, libraries, researchers, and online databases are available free online. This changes how students seek primary source materials across the disciplines. Their challenge now is to have the skills to be able to analyze it. In an IT class I was teaching last year, I showed data sets from data.worldbank.org. The site offers information on topics from science and technology to poverty and climate change. The class was learning to make graphs, charts, and visualizations using Excel. One student selected to analyze a dataset summarizing the prevalence of AIDS over the past decade, because he was studying this topic in his sociology class. Completing this exercise in IT gave him the skills to analyze real data that was of value in other courses. By 2009, the U.S. Government launched data.gov, a Web site for sharing, visualizing, and presenting data with the intent of making government transparent. Today there are hundreds of open government Web sites from cities, states, and countries across the world.
Big Data has opened new business models worthy of study, new problems for solving, and access to information that before was not even possible.
Grush: Can you give me a couple concrete, real-world examples of what you mean by tools for analyzing and teaching with big data? And might this address the concept of a more hands-on, authentic experience for the learner?
Frydenberg: Google has a tool called BigQuery which allows users to "interactively analyze massive datasets--up to billions of rows." Google gives a few examples datasets to explore free: You can now query all of Wikipedia, Shakespeare, and weather stations from within your browser. Companies with their own large data sets can upload those using pay-as-you-go pricing based on the amount of storage and number of queries their application receives in a day.
For advanced students and developers, they provide a series of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which enable experienced developers to create their own applications that make use of this data.
Students are familiar with Wikipedia, but asking them how they might determine the number of articles it contains with 'technology' in the title, for example, is a problem that until now, would be impossible to solve.
Data visualizations are becoming increasingly popular as big data and its sources continue to grow. Think about all the Web sites that plot information on maps these days: real estate listings, store finders, earthquakes, or photos uploaded to Instagram.
Tools such as Tableau, visual.ly, and explore.data.gov are finding their way into the curricula of many universities, as students learn to create data visualizations and tell the stories they have discovered because of doing so. This process engages the learner and provides new ways to relate to big data.
Grush: You sometimes mention the fire hose analogy. What are the problems or pitfalls associated with tapping the huge amounts of academic data that are gushing into some disciplines? Is there anything good about 'drinking from the fire hose'?
Frydenberg: 'Drinking from the fire hose' is a common expression that refers to the rushing stream of data that comes from a variety of sources, such as sensors that capture readings and measurements to status updates on social networks, almost in real time. The information arrives so fast that we can barely keep up with it all.
Universities are using analytical tools to target prospective students. Information related to graduation rates, dates of application, and financial aid awarded in the past help universities determine which students are more likely to elect to attend if accepted. This past information provides new insights into possible future outcomes.
As universities grapple with their futures in an age characterized by the rise of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses), the data that online courses provide allows for analysis that might not have been available otherwise. In MOOCs, students interact entirely online, leaving behind a record of every page they visited. The same is true with browsers that record a history of each transaction we perform on the Web. Analyzing this trail of data breadcrumbs in educational software tools or learning management systems often can show teachers what students actually read, exercises on which students got stuck, or pages where they spent unusually large or small amounts of time.
Grush: You teach students in IT. Is there a particular value in introducing them to these problems, especially since big data is growing and all around them?
Frydenberg: One of the lessons learned from big data is that it can lead to big problems. All of a sudden, we need to think about storage space, processing power, Internet connectivity, security, and ways to access or update it. These topics are beginning to make their way into the curricula for information technology students at all levels, for they need to be prepared to consider these questions in order to recommend solutions to their future employers.
Some of the tools for querying and visualizing big data that I described earlier can be introduced to undergraduates in order to raise awareness about the topic. Students who learn about relational databases need to understand where that technology falls short. So often, textbooks provide sample datasets, which are nicely structured, well formed, and conducive to a particular problem. In the real world, that is not always the case.
Grush: Here's the Big IT Question about Big Data: What does all this (incorporating big data into instruction) mean for IT and for the CIO? What are some of the essential planning aspects of preparing the campus for (I remember the words Cliff Lynch and others have used in terms of research data) 'a data deluge' in the academic disciplines?
Frydenberg: From presence on social media sites to in-house application data files, the amount of data that companies and campuses generate is staggering. CIOs will need to have in-house expertise to find sources of and make sense of this data and find ways to leverage the information that it may provide.
Understanding big data will help see what customers, potential students, and others are saying. CIO Magazine last year reported that within the next three to five years there would be a gap between companies that "get" big data, and those that don't.
The data deluge, or flood of information, reminds us why nearly real-time processing is so important. The metric "Time to Answer" has become crucial for companies to improve, in order to be able to keep up with incoming data, or with the requests for analyzing its content.
Grush: It seems these days that "cloud" strategies come up to calm the unsettled questions in really challenging technology areas. What do you mean when you talk about "Data as a Service" in this sense of providing big data tools and services for instruction? Is there a there, there? Can we really look to the cloud to address our concerns about managing "Big" instructional data?
Frydenberg: Data as a Service refers to the delivery of data to applications through a Web browser. Any service with which users interact through a Web browser, from running applications (Software as a Service) to online backups (Infrastructure as a Service) is an aspect of cloud computing. Data is no different.
Learning Management Systems will evolve to have access to all of a student's grades from his or her entire educational history, and display current performance as a "dashboard" of information. Assessment and assurance of learning are important metrics; access to big data and visualization tools will assist in making these concepts more intuitive.
This is already beginning to happen. I recently read an article where a school system is using data from standardized test scores to point out specific issues from students' learning histories. Looking for patterns in performance over several years, they were able to determine those areas in which a student succeeds or is in need of academic assistance. This provides a more personalized course of study based on a student's own history.
The cloud makes access to all of this data seamless, though because data is stored in the cloud, security becomes a major concern. In a keynote presentation at the recent Social Media Week conference in New York, Social media expert and Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research danah boyd described four challenges of living in a world inspired by big data (box, below):
Living with Big Data
Data is persistent. What you say online stays online. What you wrote online as a teenager is still there. While persistence allows for the asynchronous interactions on the Web upon which we have come to rely, at the same time, it makes our online persona much more difficult to manage.
Data is replicable. While we live in a world that relies on copy and paste to spread information on the Internet, that makes it difficult to tell the original from a copy. This creates new kinds of conflicts as people modify what is really happening, so you really don't know how things evolved.
Data is searchable. People are now searchable by others who hold power over them. This creates discomforts of not always knowing who is looking at you? When? Why?
Data is scalable. Once you put it out there, there is a potential that millions of people can see it. What information that we share online spreads the fastest?
Source: danah boyd, Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research (paraphrased) http://new.livestream.com/smwnyc/events/1868227
These issues are a reminder of the importance of introducing big data both the boardroom and the classroom.
[Editor's note: Mark Frydenberg is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Information Systems at Bentley University in Waltham, MA and the Director of its Learning and Technology Sandbox. He is also a contributing author of Discovering Computers 2014 and author of Web 2.0 Concepts and Applications, both published by Cengage Learning. A classroom educator and innovator, Frydenberg's research focuses on tools for collaborative learning. He has spoken at academic and professional conferences, and faculty development events throughout the U.S. and Europe. Frydenberg is also a member of the Campus Technology Conference Advisory Board.]
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Marta Sanz-Solé.
Plus first encountered Marta Sanz-Solé at a drinks reception, giving exactly the kind of speech you want while you're sipping wine and nibbling canapés: short and funny. Her audience were mathematicians attending the 6th European Congress of Mathematics, which took place in Krakow in July, and Marta was speaking in her role as the President of the European Mathematical Society (EMS). Definitely a great interview subject, we thought, and we were lucky. Despite an incredibly busy schedule — the EMS organised this 1000-people-strong conference — Marta found time to talk to us about her career as a research mathematician and figurehead of Europe's representative body for mathematics.
Naive beginnings
Marta first became interested in maths at school. "I was quite successful in solving problems. I was also very much motivated by abstract thinking, by logic, by philosophy, by science in contrast with technology. But I was really naive and ignorant! At that time, I met some excellent teachers who encouraged me to consider studying mathematics at university, and I followed their advice. I felt very excited with such a challenge."
Initially Marta had trouble choosing between maths and physics as a degree subject and eventually decided to combine both. "But mathematics was so demanding and I was also taking courses in playing the piano, so [a combination of maths and physics] was too much." Marta stuck to mathematics only and also carried on with her music, something she still enjoys today.
And she's not the only mathematician to do so. Many are interested in music and play instruments. Is it true that there are parallels between the two areas that make music particularly attractive to mathematicians? "Like mathematics, the language of music is also very abstract," says Marta. "It's more abstract than literature or even poetry. So there certainly is a connection. And moreover there is a lot of mathematics underlying music. But I personally am more interested in music as an art, rather than the analysis of the underlying structure. I don't take it as an extension of my profession, but as an extra activity to enjoy art."
After finishing her degree Marta was faced with a question that confronts many who'd like to take their maths further: should I do a PhD? Her other option, becoming a highschool teacher, offered more certainty. "I knew very well what a career in a high school was, but it's not clear for a student what doing a PhD and carrying out research is like. But eventually I decided to embark on a PhD programme. I thought that becoming a teacher meant having my future determined, while research could give me more opportunities to change direction [later on]."
Doing a PhD did come with a few challenges. "For me it was a very nice experience, but it is true that it can also be very stressful. First there is the uncertainty: your supervisor gives you a subject [to work on]. You then have to solve a problem and you know you have to solve it in a fixed amount of time — that's a challenge. Also, this comes in a period of your life in which you have other problems to solve, especially [if you're from my generation]. Nowadays young people may postpone building a family, but when I finished my studies I started to live with my partner, we wanted to have a baby and so on. It was a difficult time." But for Marta the rewards outweighed the stress. "Once your realise that you've proved your first theorem you are so excited! I was really enjoying that and I am very happy about my life. I would like to change some things of course, but not the direction of my career."
The weather is a result of a complex web of interacting factors which are hard to capture in a mathematical model. This image shows hurricane Isaac over the Gulf of Mexico in August 2012.
Experimental maths
Marta did her PhD in an area called stochastic analysis and that's the area she still works in today, as a Professor at the University of Barcelona. It's about bringing randomness into the models we use to describe the world around us.
If you're looking at a simple physical process, say two colliding billiard balls, you can often use an equation, in this case Newton's second law of motion, to predict what is going to happen to the two balls after impact. But in most real-life situations, such as predicting the weather or the behaviour of the stock market, things aren't that clear-cut. These processes are subject to all sorts of events that, to all intents and purposes, happen randomly. To account for these and other uncertainties, stochastic modelling combines clear-cut equations with random processes — metaphorically speaking the cast of a die — to make room for such random fluctuations. Instead of a single prediction for tomorrow's weather, say, you might then get a whole range of possible weathers, together with probabilities telling you how likely each one of them is. (You can explore stochastic models in the Plus articles Backgammon, doubling the stakes, and Brownian motion and Keeping track of immunity.)
Marta works mostly on the theoretical side of stochastic analysis. But still, it's the applicability of her work that attracted her to the area. "There is a part [of stochastic analysis] which is very much related to mathematical analysis: it's very precise. On the other hand it is also very experimental, more than other areas of mathematics like algebra and geometry: you think of models, then you discard them if they don't work, or you modify your hypothesis. Maybe this more experimental aspect is what I like. It is abstract, but you can really put your hands into the problem and get something out of it."
Marta's move into a job after her PhD was very different to what it is for budding mathematicians today, who often spend time abroad and travelling to conferences. She graduated from her undergraduate degree in 1974, one year before Spain's dictator Fransisco Franco died and the country began its transition to democracy. "At that time Spain was scientifically quite underdeveloped. Although I got a very good education at my university, at [the time I began my postdoctoral work] there weren't any funding agencies. So my first trips to conferences I had to pay myself. The system of grants only arrived in Spain at the end of the 1970s. So at that time it was quite difficult to get a postdoctoral job abroad. Most of the people in my country stayed at home. We are the generation that has developed science in Spain as it is now and we put a lot of effort into it."
Eventually research in Spain took off and Marta moved on to a permanent job. Then, after a couple of job changes, she arrived at the University of Barcelona, becoming a professor in 1986. A professor's job is a combination of teaching and research. What does she like best? "I like teaching very much, this is my contact with reality. But research is also fascinating. I very much understand the satisfaction someone feels who builds a very nice building or composes some music. Mathematics is the same. When you see that you get results you have this feeling of having created something. Of course, research has a frustrating side, but I must say that I have been successful. I have very good memories from every stage of my career."
Being a President
These days Marta has a reduced teaching load to make way for a prominent role in European mathematics: since 2011 she has been President of the European Mathematical Society (EMS), a learned society representing mathematicians throughout Europe and promoting the development of all aspects of maths. Her interest in this aspect of mathematical life stems in part from her close involvement with building mathematics in Spain. But it also comes from a thirst for variety. "I am quite a multi-tasker. I love mathematics but I am not the kind of mathematician who starts her day doing mathematics and goes to bed doing mathematics. I like to be involved in different aspects of life."
Before becoming President Marta had already spent eight years on the EMS Executive Committee and she found the work fascinating. "For me it was a fantastic experience because I learnt what is going on in mathematics around Europe from very different perspectives, not only research, but also things like scientific policy, gender issues or raising public awareness [of mathematics]. Another thing that fascinated me, because I am a good observer, was to see how people with very different views and cultural backgrounds could discuss things and eventually agree. It's a very interesting exercise to observe an Italian and a Finnish person [interact] — they are quite different."
Marta Sanz-Solé speaking at the opening of the 6th European Congress of Mathematics. Behind her is a quire from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
As President of the EMS Marta's tasks are complex and varied. There's a jumble of committees — a committee on applied mathematics, a committee on women in mathematics, on raising public awareness, on electronic publishing, to name just a few — and these need to be coordinated and guided. "The EMS also has a publishing house and although it is structured as a company, I am the chair of its board. So I have to know what is going on, I have to take decisions."
Then there is the all-important connection to politics. "I try to be quite active in controlling the relationship between the EMS and the EU political bodies. At a national level it's difficult for mathematical societies to have access, to be influential in scientific policy. The EMS has better chances. This is a very important activity of the EMS."
So what kind of challenges are facing mathematics at the moment? "As a subject I think we are in a very good position. We are much better acknowledged by other disciplines; much better-known than before. The image of the mathematician as a crazy guy or crazy girl is changing a lot, at least this is my impression. But we have a very serious problem of funding at the level of the European Union. [Most of] the science funding instruments that the European Union has provided so far only suit disciplines that need large infrastructures and large networks. This is not the way mathematicians work. Of course we need to collaborate with other people, but we don't need big networks, like for example the life sciences, which have labs, theoretical researchers, experimentalists and companies that implement their products. Of course this makes maths much cheaper than other disciplines, but still we need money. Communities like physics and the life sciences are very big so they have been able to create lobbying structures. For us it's not so easy because we are small. But this is one of the roles of the EMS: increase lobbying in Brussels, be more professional, create better structures, and depend less on volunteer work. To address such issues you need some background — good will is not enough, you need skills."
Percentage of female mathematics professors in 2005. From Statistics on women in mathematics, a report compiled by Catherine Hobbs and Esmyr Koomen. Click here to see larger image.
Women in maths
One issue that constantly gnaws at mathematics, and that can't be ignored speaking to the first female President of the EMS, is the gender imbalance. Although things have been improving over the last twenty years or so, and although there are considerable variations between European countries, women are still under-represented amongst senior researchers. At a panel discussion that took place at the European Congress of Mathematics the day before we spoke to Marta, Marja Makarow, former Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation, reported that if we keep on at the rate we're going, it will take 400 years until 50% of professors in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects are female.
Some people call for intervention, from mentoring for female students to more drastic measures such as gender quotas for bodies that have financial or hiring power, or ear-marking professorships for women. The latter has been tried in Norway and Sweden, but was eventually ruled unlawful by the European Free Trade Association. But Marta does not agree with the interventionist approach. "I am more in favour of [letting things evolve naturally]. Of course there is the problem that in a very important point in your career you would like to have a baby and build a family. So the weight a woman carries on her shoulders is much higher than for a man, even if your partner helps you. Of course helping women at that period in their career by having specific programmes [would be useful]. But to make specific efforts to attract women — I don't like that idea. I would feel very uncomfortable to have a position because I am a woman. For me that would be discrimination."
Our final question for Marta is one we ask all our career interviewees. What would you say to somebody at school who is toying with the idea of taking up a career like yours, in her case as a mathematical researcher? "I'd recommend it. Of course you need to be aware that it's not an easy career. But easy and difficult depends on your skills and on your patience. So if you feel like it, then just go ahead."
About the author
Marianne Freiberger is Editor of Plus. She interviewed Marta Sanz-Solé at the European Congress of Mathematics which took place in Krakow in July 2012.


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When a big event like a wedding, formal or milestone party is looming on your calendar then it's time to start thinking about your outfit, hair and makeup. Often a big event is a time when our hair color gets a refresh, either to update our existing shade or to even try out the new hair color we've been thinking about for awhile.
While this is one of the fun parts about getting ready for a major event, there are some hair color issues that can cause havoc, such as your color turning out wrong or your brand new shade fading before anyone even gets to see it.
To avoid such issues, and ensure your color and hair will look its best on the night; keep these hair color guidelines in mind.
Temporary Hair Color:
If you're coloring with a temporary hair color that will only last a few hair washes then color the day before the event. The color chosen should either be the same color as your current hair color and used to refresh your look, or a color that will enhance your look, such as a subtle red tint over dark locks.
Semi-Permanent Hair Color:
A semi-permanent hair color can also wash out quickly depending on the color choice and quality of the hair dye. A salon color should last well enough for you have your color done a few weeks before the event and have it settle into a nice shade. If you're coloring your hair at home then you may want to color closer to the event so color the day before an event and make sure the color is one you're comfortable with.
Permanent Hair Color:
If you're using permanent hair color then have your hair done either a few weeks beforehand so that it has time to settle and keep it fresh with color protection hair styling products, or just before the event if you want a really freshly colored look. If you're coloring right before the event then don't use this time to branch out with an extreme new hair color or try to attempt any tricky color jobs at home as any hair disasters will need time to be corrected.
When it comes to adding highlights to your look then get them done at least two weeks ahead of the event. That way you can get used to your highlights, the 'just done' streaky look will fade a little and you'll also have the chance to add more highlight touches if need be.
Root Touch-Up:
If all your hair color requires is a root touch-up then get this done one week beforehand. If you're coloring your roots at home then don't forget to freshen up the rest of your color. You can do this by adding the color to your roots for the processing time stated in the instructions and then adding some dye to the rest of your strands for the last ten minutes of the color processing time. This will ensure your hair color is even and looks refreshed all over.
We hope these hair color guidelines help you to get the right look for your next event. If you're looking for some hair color inspiration then check out our range of hairstyles.
To see how you'd look with any of the salon hairstyles pictured in this article, click on each image to try the virtual hairstyle with your own photo!


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[vimeo 2049219]
T-Mobile's G1 was released last week and there has been at least one Android vulnerability announced already. The New York Times reported on research done by [Charlie Miller], who also helped find one of the first iPhone bugs, so we think the report is fairly credible. Last year, we saw him deliver a seminar on real world fuzzing at ToorCon 9. It covered exactly how they found the iPhone bug.
If you just want to use a G1 without service, you can activate it with any T-Mobile SIM card.
Above is Boing Boing Gadgets' concise video review of Griffin AirCurve. It's garbage. We first talked about it in our loaded horn post because it looked like something fun to redesign.
The iphone-dev team published a video today showing access to the iPhone's baseband processor. They connect to the device over ssh and then use minicom to issue AT commands. They're writing custom AT commands for full control.


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AKA Michael Peter Balzary
Born: 16-Oct-1962Birthplace: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Gender: MaleRace or Ethnicity: WhiteSexual orientation: StraightOccupation: Bassist
Nationality: AustraliaExecutive summary: Bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers
Although now known to the world as a tiny, blood-sucking insect, Michael Balzary began his life as an ordinary human being in Melbourne. Early in his life, his family relocated to the States so that his jazz-musician stepfather could more readily find work; a short period was spent in New York before they ultimately settled in Los Angeles in the early 70s. By this time Michael had developed jazz ambitions of his own, pounding his little heart out on the drums before falling under the influence of players like Dizzy Gillespie and moving on to the trumpet. Involvement in the Los Angeles Junior Philarmonic Orchestra eventually gave way to an interest in rock and funk and the formation of the band Anthym with some of his schoolmates.
Success remained elusive for Anthym and in 1982 Balzary left to spend some time with the punk band Fear, but before long he was back amongst his former bandmates, earning local notoriety in bars on the Sunset Strip under the name Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. Shortly thereafter, Tony Flow became the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Balzary became "Flea", and both together became another cog in the huge, mindless wheel of EMI Records. The first fruit of this happy union was a self-titled offering in 1984, its initial impact being felt primarily in the less-imaginative quarters of college radio. The George Clinton-produced Freaky Styley followed in 1985, and the Michael Beinhorn-produced Uplift Mofo Party Plan in 1987, both steadily advancing the popularity of the band. Several changes in the drummer and guitarist positions took place on this road to mass acceptance, with a heroin overdose claiming the life of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak, and former members of Parliament and Dead Kennedys having brief periods of membership before a momentarily stable line-up was arrived at with the release of Mother's Milk in 1989.
Around the same time as the Chili Peppers' debut release, Flea made his first venture into feature films with a role in Penelope Spheeris' Suburbia (1984). His acting career was subsequently maintained through appearances in films such as The Blue Iguana (1987), the two Back to the Future sequels (1989 and 1990), and My Own Private Idaho (1991), although always remaining confined to smaller, supporting roles. Demand for his services as a session player during this period also increased his exposure outside the confines of the band. The same year as Idaho, the Peppers had their first significant hump against the trembling leg of the mainstream charts -- the release BloodSugarSexMagik earning platinum status and attracting widespread media exposure. Line-up problems continued to plague the band, but the sales of records like Out In L.A. (1994) and One Hot Minute (1995) remained unaffected by the changes.
1998 saw Flea turning up in minor roles in a number of films, including The Big Lebowski, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the re-make of Psycho, as well as making a voice-over contribution to the cartoon series The Wild Thornberrys. A short stint as temporary bassist for the newly-reformed Jane's Addiction had taken place the preceding year. With the release of the lamely-titled Californication in 1999, the Peppers once again achieved a degree of personnel stability, and their mass appeal was "confirmed" through a headlining position at the pathetic spectacle that was the Woodstock '99 festival. Activity with the band and in film continued into the 2000s, the album By The Way (2002) and the movie Rugrats Go Wild (2003) being some of the results. In 2001, Flea co-founded the Silverlake Conservatory Of Music with the intent of reversing the decline in music education for children.
Father: Walter Urban, Jr. (stepfather, musician)Mother: PatriciaSister: KarenWife: Loesha Zeviar (m. 1985, div. 1990, one daughter)Daughter: Clara (b. 16-Sep-1988)Girlfriend: Frankie Rayder (engaged to be married, one daughter)Daughter: Sunny Bebop Balzary (b. 2006, with Rayder)
High School: Fairfax High School, Los Angeles, CA
Fear Bassist (1982-83) Red Hot Chili Peppers Bassist (1983-) Jane's Addiction Bassist (1997) Esalen Sexual Harassment 14-Mar-1990 (Florida, guilty plea) Hungarian Ancestry Irish Ancestry Risk Factors: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Heroin, Marijuana
TELEVISION The Wild Thornberrys Donnie (1998-2004)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR Toy Story 4 (14-Jun-2019) [VOICE] Boy Erased (1-Sep-2018) Baby Driver (11-Mar-2017) Song to Song (10-Mar-2017) Inside Out (18-May-2015) [VOICE] Low Down (19-Jan-2014) Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (Jun-2010) · Himself The Other F Word (2010) · Himself Patti Smith: Dream of Life (20-Jan-2008) · Himself Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (20-Jan-2007) · Himself American Hardcore (13-Sep-2006) · Himself We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (25-Feb-2005) · Himself Red Hot Chili Peppers: Live at Slane Castle (17-Nov-2003) · Himself Rugrats Go Wild! (1-Jun-2003) [VOICE] The Wild Thornberrys Movie (8-Sep-2002) [VOICE] Psycho (4-Dec-1998) · Bob Summerfield Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (22-May-1998) · Musician The Big Lebowski (15-Feb-1998) · Nihilist The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (Jan-1998) · Himself Just Your Luck (29-Nov-1996) Woodstock '94 (1995) · Himself The Chase (4-Mar-1994) · Dale Roadside Prophets (8-Oct-1992) My Own Private Idaho (12-Sep-1991) Motorama (10-Sep-1991) Red Hot Chili Peppers: Funky Monks (1991) · Himself Back to the Future Part III (25-May-1990) · Needles Back to the Future Part II (22-Nov-1989) · Needles Let's Get Lost (15-Sep-1988) · Himself The Blue Iguana (22-Apr-1988) Stranded (20-Nov-1987) Less Than Zero (6-Nov-1987) · Musician #1 Dudes (18-Sep-1987) Tough Guys (3-Oct-1986) · Himself Suburbia (12-Oct-1984)
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Wardrobe Minimalism: Progress in Pictures
It's no secret: I struggle with wardrobe decluttering. In my minimalism journey, this has been the hardest area for me to let go. I keep at it, because I know that practise makes perfect, and that decluttering gets easier with time (flexing those decluttering muscles is the only way to make them stronger). When I'm finally finished, the taste of success will be oh so sweet!
About this time last year I undertook a mammoth wardrobe decluttering session, and I photographed everything in my wardrobe. I say mammoth not because of the amount of items I discarded, but because owning so many things made it a big job! I removed every single item of clothing I owned from my wardrobe, shelves, those items hanging behind the door, languishing in the laundry basket and generally distributed about the flat, and made a big pile in the living room. Techinally, several piles.
I lay a sheet out on the floor and category by category, grouped together everything I owned, took a photograph and then considered what I could do without. Once those items were decluttered, I took another photo for prosperity.
I really recommend this process if you want to reduce your wardrobe. Of course, you'd think it would be easier to just look at everything hanging on a rail and make choices from there, but physically moving your things is so much better for a number of reasons:
- You can be really clear about exactly what you own.
- You can group things together so you can see exactly how many of every different type of item you own.
- Physically moving everything makes you realise exactly how much you have. Clothing is surprisingly heavy, and actually lifting and feeling this is much more powerful than glancing at a rail of hanging items.
- It's harder to ignore something when it's in your hands. You can't miss it, or skim over it, so you consider every single item independently.
Originally, I took photos to write a blog post, but I found it very useful as a tool for helping me see what I owned. I think being able to visually see everything is actually far more helpful than a list. 10 skirts sounds like nothing, but when I see 10 skirts in an image, I see that is far too many! It's also helpful in working out what goes with what, far more than a list will.
One year later I've repeated the process. These pictures show the journey from August 2014 (pre- and post-decluttering), and my progress in October 2015. Remember that my wardrobe decluttering journey actually began 2 years prior to the first pictures in 2014, and clearly I still have quite a way to go!
Since taking these photos, and writing about my minimalist wardrobe struggle back in October, I've had a bit of a wardrobe minimalism breakthrough. Yes I have! A large part of it has to do with all the helpful comments that you left with advice and tips. They didn't fall on deaf ears, quite the opposite, and I want to thank you all for providing well needed advice. Stay tuned, because I'm looking forward to sharing the next chapter with you shortly!
Now it's your turn, and I want to hear from you! Now you've seen my wardrobe in all its, er, glory…I'd love to hear what you think! Any areas for improvement? Any glaringly obvious mistakes or inappropriate (mis-matching, for example) items? Anything I could add to make what I have much more usable? Any colours missing or over-represented? Any parallels with your own wardrobe minimalism struggle? Anything else you'd like to add?! Please keep the advice coming in the comments below!


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The search engine that was to become Google was originally nicknamed "BackRub", because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Eventuallythe name was changed to Google, originating from a misspelling of the word "googol", the number one followed by one hundred zeros, which was picked to signify that the search engine was intended to provide large quantities of information.
Originally, Google ran under Stanford University's website, with the domains google.stanford.edu and z.stanford.edu. The domain name for Google was registered on September 15, 1997, and the company was incorporated on September 4, 1998. It was based in a friend's garage in California. In May 2011, the number of monthly unique visitors to Google surpassed one billion for the first time, an 8.4 percent increase from May 2010 (931 million)
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You know these buttons on your computer:
Ever wondered why they use those symbols and why they don't simply say On and Off?
Here's why:
- The first two pics with the 1 and 0 to indicate power on and off are based on the binary system, with 1 standing for On and 0 for Off.
- The symbol with the 1 inside the 0 is a toggle type switch that indicates that pressing the button will turn the device on and off.
- This symbol with the 1 in the line of the 0 indicates that pressing it will go from on to standby, and vice versa.
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The Mexican Wave was seen at American football games from 1981 but did not achieve international recognition or its name until the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City. There is apparently no truth to the explanation that a person in the audience spilt hot enchiladas on his lap and on people sitting nearby.
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